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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23083768">We need to talk (Mallek Week Day 4)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaioken95/pseuds/Kaioken95'>Kaioken95</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Mallek Week 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hiveswap, Homestuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Falling In Love, Feelings Realization, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hiveswap: Friendsim, Love, M/M, Original Character(s), Talking, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:15:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,048</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23083768</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaioken95/pseuds/Kaioken95</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 4 prompt for Mallek Week 2020</p>
<p>Prompt chosen: Mallek working through his feelings for someone (in any quadrant)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mallek Adalov/Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Mallek Week 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658482</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We need to talk (Mallek Week Day 4)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote this piece about Mallek trying to figure his feelings for Zack (OC) after learning the other has feelings for him.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span> I’ve also attached a google doc <b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c6sP3nwb91eZf0-Hv66rsRyq-Uw6IUG-/view?usp=sharing">link</a> </b>with the pesterlog section in color and text. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mallek was sitting on his couch, he was just staring at his palmhusk. Tightly holding some device with both hands. A look of stress was spread across the troll’s face. On the screen he was staring at his trollian app, grumbling his frustration he just tossed the device aside. Grabbing a pillow, he then loudly groaned into it. Why was this so hard? Why couldn’t he just talk to Zack. Why was this difficult to express? Thinking about the human, his cute adorable face. Those golden eyes, his smile… See. It was SO easy to think about, and let the thoughts run around in his mind, but write or physically speaking to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His feelings had been compromised, and complicated now after learning how the other felt about him. It was worse since it was eavesdropping, technically. After a party, he was halfway between consciousness and sleep, and Zack was talking with Diemen about Mallek thinking he was passed out, and during this conversation, the human shared with Diemen his romantic feelings for Mallek, and he that was in love with him. Of course, Mallek was shocked and had to remain silent while they were speaking. That was a few days ago, and since then he had been awkward around Zack, and he had been trying to message Mallek, but the cerulean had been avoiding his messages.</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, this wasn’t the right course to go about this… Zack might take it the wrong way or think he had done something wrong to offend Mallek. But Zack could never do that to him, and he didn’t want to hurt his friend’s feelings by ignoring him. Zack had told Diemen that even though he had feelings for Mallek he didn’t want to jeopardise their friendship or make things awkward. Too late for that. But again, he heard something that wasn’t supposed to. Mallek was confused about how to approach this, and couldn’t keep dodging Zack forever, since the other could just as easily come straight to his hive. The silence was broken by the notification noise from his palmhusk, he knew they were from Zack. Sighing, he grabbed his device. Preparing himself, he began typing a response to the other.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <b>--previous messages--</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>--sent last night at 23:25--</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Mallek are you okay!</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Has something happened, you haven’t responded to me.</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Have I done something? Have I upset you or are you seriously lost in your coding?? XD</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: If that’s that case, then I just wait until you’re done. Reply when you can.</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>--sent 5 hours ago--</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Okay this is really weird… What’s going on? Have I done something?</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>--sent 2 hours ago--</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Please answer me, I’m getting really worried about now.</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Dude. I will come over to your hive.</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>--sent 5 minutes ago—</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: MALLEK!</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>--</b>
  <b>snakeBytes [SB]</b>
  <b> began trolling </b>
  <b>GallantLuminescent [GL]</b>
  <b>--</b>
  
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: hey zack;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Hey? Hey? What the fuck has been going on?! Why have you been ignoring me, what did I do?! What’s wrong with you, are you hurt? Did you lose your palmhusk? You don’t respond for days and then just reply with “hey zack;”!!!</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: sorry; i apologise; i didn’t mean to hurt you by ignoring you;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: sorry for making you worry about me; it wasn’t just you bro, i’ve been off the grid from everyone for a bit; i just needed some space from everything;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: i should’ve given you a heads up; forgive me?;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Alright…</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: I can understand you needing some space, and yeah, a heads up would be nice. I thought something had happened to you. Sorry if my messages were starting to annoy you.</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: ah it’s all good; you could never annoy me; it’s cute that you worry about me;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Oh, good you’re back to normal (-_-)</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: :P;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: hey; have you got time to come over for a bit?;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: there’s something i kinda wanna need to talk to you about; but like face to face;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: it’s important; so you can understand why i’ve been distant;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Yeah, I was gonna come over when you weren’t replying, I can be there within the next twenty minutes or so.</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL Is everything okay?</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: yeah; yeah; don’t panic it’s nothing life-threatening; but; we need to talk;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>GL: Alright. I’ll see you in a few.</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>SB: yeah; see you soon;</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>--</b>
  <b>snakeBytes [SB]</b>
  <b> ceased trolling </b>
  <b>GallantLuminescent [GL]</b>
  <b>--</b>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Mallek felt better, finally replying to the other relieved a little of the tension. But when Zack arrives, it’s gonna be even more awkward with him standing there in front of him. What was he gonna talk about? Was he gonna tell the other that he heard about his conversation and he knew about his feelings. He was gonna tell him how he felt… How did he feel? Thinking about it, the cerulean honestly had never considered if his feelings would develop for Zack.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But after spending all this time with the other, becoming closer, a strong friendship. Sure, Zack was one of the few people he was flirty with, he felt comfortable to lower his guard around the human, and vice versa, Zack in the beginning had been reserved, guards raised up, always looking over his shoulder. Now he was at a point where he could just fall asleep beside Mallek and not be on high alert. Zack felt safe with him… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And he felt safe with the other, thinking back to more of their tender moments, the pair weren’t always subtle about their mutual attraction, joking, flirting, and Mallek teasing the other. Cutting out the bullshit, right down to it Mallek did have feelings for Zack. He liked him. But it was just difficult to express it into words. He needed more time. He couldn’t keep Zack hanging on by threads and he wanted to give a proper answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He likes Zack but was he ready to be in a relationship with him? Was he boyfriend material, feelings aside would a red relationship between him and Zack actually work. Shaking his head to the sides, he was thinking too far ahead about this. At that time, hearing his door knocking, jumping out of his seat, quickly approaching his door. Taking a deep breath, Mallek opened the door to Zack, dressed in his varsity jacket zipped up, jeans and boots.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When their eyes met, Mallek gave the other a half-hearted smile. “Hey Zack.” He simply said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi…” Zack returned with an awkward smile, the troll then gestured for the human to come on in which he did, stepping inside with Mallek closing his door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I would say sorry about the mess, but you’re used to I-” His attempt to make small talk was cut short when Zack without warning threw his arms around Mallek, hugging him from behind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad you’re okay.” Zack had buried his face into the back of Mallek’s shirt, his voice was muffled a little, but the cerulean blood could make it out. Just his cheeks were blue, blushing from the other’s embrace.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I really had ya worried for me huh?” Mallek looking back at the other, he couldn’t help but smile at him. Just then Zack let go of the other, he felt a tad flustered, rubbing the back of his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“S-Sorry about that… So, what was it that you needed to talk about?” Curious to know what Mallek wanted to talk about, the other then gestured for Zack to sit down with him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is kinda hard for me to express, but… You need a clear answer from me.” Looking down into his hands, occasionally looking at Zack.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, I kinda, sort of… Overheard your conversation with Diemen. Back at the party, when you guys thought I passed out… I wasn’t.” Mallek’s words were awkward, hesitating with each sentence. Zack at that moment had to process what the other was referring to, and upon realising it, his face went dark with blush.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Y-You… You were eavesdropping on us?” This surprised him as Mallek wasn’t the type to do that. The troll started waving his hands frantically in a defensive manner.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, no, no! Not intentionally. I was about to pass but then I heard my name, and then I felt awkward, so then I just kept still and waited until you were done.” Mallek explaining to the other. “I didn’t mean to listen, but I couldn’t help it…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow this is really uncomfortable. So how much did you hear?” Zack nervously asked, Mallek was able to look the other the eye, awkwardly chuckling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Haha… I wasn’t listening to every detail, just what you said about me… That I make your heart beat faster.” Zack put his face into his hands, hiding his blushing face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh god.” His voice muffled in his hands, this wasn’t happening. He wanted to die right there.</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was avoiding you, but it was because I felt awkward knowing about this… But also, I needed to think about where my own feelings are on this.” Mallek gently placed his hand on Zack’s shoulder, smiling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wanted to explain to you how I feel about it, and you… But I was struggling with how to go about it, and I kept hitting a wall. Again, I should’ve messaged earlier, so my bad.” The awkwardness in his voice was gone, reassuring the other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I like you Zack.” Mallek simply told him, making Zack look up at him. “You’re a really good guy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “It’s a lot of fun being around you, and I learned so much from you. Stuff about the sessions, my powers, and the world, and life beyond Alternia.” The cerulean turned to face the other.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I really love how kind you are too… You’re so strong, even though you have your own demons. You keep moving forward, carrying others.” Listing all the things he liked about Zack was making the human’s face blush even more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You make me smile, I feel comfortable around you. I don’t have to put a façade around you, we are at a point where I can share things with you.” Mallek reaching out slowly, his hand resting over Zack’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t wanna string you along, or give mixed signals… I like you too, but I’m ready to initiate a relationship/quadrant with you.” Zack’s expression changed for a second, disappointment, confusion, but he understood.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yet.” Mallek added. “With everything hanging over us, my life, your mission and the game. It isn’t the best of times, the extra-long distance too since you're often off planet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, after were at a more stable point with our lives… We can go on a date and go from there.” Mallek said, smiling at him. Hearing that made Zack light up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is that okay?” Mallek asked the other who just shook his head. “That’s absolutely fine.” Zack answered chuckling nervously with Mallek laughing with him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m willing to try this. I… I want to.” Mallek squeezed Zack’s hand, the other holding his hand tightly too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Later on, the two were playing one of Mallek’s games, mashing buttons on their controls, with the troll deliberately trying to knock Zack’s arm to throw him off his game. Both of them laughing and just having a good time, back to normal. Mallek was also looking at Zack from the corner of his eyes, the other focused on the game. His cheeks dusted a faint blue shade of blush, smiling warmly at him.</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zack could understand where Mallek was coming from. He wasn’t expecting them to just start a loving relationship there and then. But his answer still surprised him. They needed time, it took time for them to build a friendship and to trust each other as partners in the game. So, a romantic relationship would take as much time, love takes time, and it takes effort. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With their individual lives, with Zack trying to pilot the ARK, always at the different point of the universe, Mallek’s plan with the drones, learning about his session. And he didn’t want to confess to Mallek and possibly damage their friendship, but the other had the same feelings for him. Just to a different degree to Zack, and that was okay.</span>
</p>
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